While driving home from the store today, I saw a police car along the side of the road with the words “UFO Response Team” emblazoned on the back, and the little kid in me got all excited thinking about all that stuff again. You see, when I was young, I had an endless fascination for UFO’s. I had a stack of books about them (by authors like J. Allen Hynek and John Mack) and I watched every TV special I could. The Air Force used to have a special team called Project Blue Book that investigated sightings and stories, and for about two seconds in the late 1970’s, long before “The X-Files”, there was a TV show based on Project Blue Book cases that was called “Project U.F.O.”
Long before conspiracy theories abounded or distrust of the government became de riguer, there seemed to be a kind of mythology about UFO’s. One show described an ancient site in South America that was given the insipid name of EarthBaseOne, which (after decades of retrospect) looked like an Inca temple. It was a large square, with no roof, and in the walls of the square were carvings of skulls. One was human, and the others (all around the walls) were slight variations on human faces. Some were very similar to our current visage, while others were grotesquely misshapen. A quick Google search revealed that the site’s real name is Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia.
Anyway, the show put forward the idea that extraterrestrial life forms created humanity, and that Tiahuanaco was the place where they worked out their ‘design’ for us. An interesting theory, and one that I’ve never forgotten.
So anyway, I got to thinking about all that UFO business again this afternoon, and I really wanted to see the show “Project U.F.O.” again. It took longer than I would have thought to scrounge up an actual episode (Due to a government cover-up, perhaps? KIDDING!), but here’s one for you.
Warning: WATCH THIS CLIP AT YOUR OWN RISK. It may have been based on an interesting premise, but the show is a complete and utter turd. Do not attempt to drive or use heavy machinery after watching it.
This is the infamous Super Bowl Sunday, and I for one could not care less about that. In fact, if it wasn’t for Twitter, I wouldn’t have known that today is the day. That’s how little I follow sports.
I know what I said a couple of weeks ago about how ‘the hiatus is over’ and all that, but life seems to have gone into overdrive since then, and I haven’t had two minutes to rub together to write anything new.
Two weekends ago, I went to Waldport, Oregon to spend the weekend with a childhood friend whose job is about to end, which will force him to move away from that pretty little town. (Photos to come, as soon as I get the chance to go through them.)
IrishBand has a friend who’s creating an animated video for one of our songs, and it’s tremendous! It should be done within a couple of weeks, and then I’ll be able to share it here. It’s been quite a process, and very exciting to watch it all come together. We needed to create an ‘intro’ section for it (you’ll see what I mean) that featured the sound of the band setting up their instruments and tuning up and whatnot. Since two of the band members are busy in school, we weren’t able to schedule a rehearsal, so I set up the instruments (drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and cello played up high to simulate a violin) in my living room and recorded them using one microphone to simulate a camera person walking in and recording us that way. (Photos to come, once I have a chance to go through them.)
I spent last weekend in Seattle to see a pipe organ concert at my brother’s church and to celebrate BabyNiece’s first birthday. It was really fun, and super cute, and a bit stressful all at the same time. (Photos to come, as soon as I get the chance to go through them.) I drove back late Saturday night so that I could attend the Oregon Symphony the next afternoon. They were featuring Jean-Philippe Collard performing Ravel’s beautiful Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, which I love and didn’t want to miss. (Extra-special thanks to Kelly V. for making it possible for me and my companion to go!) Hmm. . .’companion’ makes it sound like I’m gay, which I’m not. For the record, my companion was a girl.
Anyway.
I couldn’t find a video of Collard playing the Left Hand, but here’s one of him playing a similar piece by Ravel, for solo piano.
It was an incredible and beautiful show. The orchestra started with a piece by Thomas Adés called “Powder Her Face”, which was very colorful and enchanting. Next up was the Ravel concerto, followed by Gustav Holst’s “Egdon Heath” and one of the lesser-known Mozart symphonies, number thirty four. The Ravel was the only piece either of us (and I daresay the majority of the audience, as well) was familiar with. I love the way the conductor, Carlos, Kalmar, chooses music for his programs. This is the second one I’ve seen so far this season, and he likes to blend the familiar with the unfamiliar in an intriguing way.
Speaking of the Oregon Symphony, next season promises to be world-class. Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, Emmanuel Ax, Lang Lang. . .and that’s not even close to a complete list. We are in for a treat multiple treats!
I had the opportunity to play with two nationally-known songwriters this week, in the same venue, on different days. The first was Tony Furtado (a friend with whom I play fairly regularly) and the second was Dan Bern, who I had just met earlier in the day, when I helped my friend John by engineering and sort of co-hosting a podcast for KZME Radio called Hello Cruel World. This was the second time I’ve had the opportunity to do that, the first being a couple weeks prior, when we interviewed an excellent new songwriter from Seattle named Tamara Power-Drutis. Anyway, we were talking with Dan about the times we’ve seen him in concert. John mentioned to Dan that I play accordion and multiple other things, and Dan asked if I know his music. “Yes, I do,” I answered. He asked, “Do you want to come play at the show tonight?” “Absolutely!”
This picture was taken during the song God Said No.
So yeah, between the multiple out-of-town trips, the stellar gigs, the birthday parties and the nights out, it’s been quite a fun couple of weeks. Now I’m off to meet a friend for dinner, and tomorrow I’ll be mixing some more songs for IrishBand.
I’m off of blogging hiatus, but we’ll see how long it takes before I have time to write again. I don’t imagine it’ll be this long.
I’m kind of obsessed with this song lately. I first heard it when my friend played it on his radio show one night. The singer’s voice sounded familiar, and the pianist clearly had classical chops. I was mesmerized, and I called my friend at the station to find out who that was. It turned out to be a new song by Regina Spektor called “Machine.”
The song’s subject matter and the detached quality of Regina’s perfomance always remind me of a beautiful, enigmatic and very dark anime series called Serial Experiments: Lain, which I recommend whole-heartedly, although I would add the caveat that its darkness and strangeness is not for everyone; certainly not for the faint of heart.
[UPDATE: Click on the picture, and that will take you to the first episode of the show.]
In other news, I spent this last weekend at the coast for a much-needed getaway. It allowed me, among other things, the luxury of enough time away from all of the usual nonsense, so that I could cut out the noise and think about the people and things that are important to me, and one of them was this blog. I needed some time away from it to appreciate how much I enjoy having this particular outlet, and you’ll be glad to know that I plan to write much more often, like I used to.
Man, I swear this blog gets more hits when I don’t post for a week than when I post all the time. I guess it’s a good thing I’m still feeling un-bloggish lately, then, in order to give everybody a chance to soak up a bit of beauty, humor, sadness (although there’s been precious little sadness lately!) and truth.
Times have been good, overall. Had a great gig on Friday, at which I got the chance to see many friends. I started mixing the EP for IrishBand (our goal is to finish mixing some time in December), and I had an excellent birthday. Got some new clothes. My friend LJ returned from three weeks in the U.K., so we went to brunch and then came back here to my place where she could upload the pictures and explain the stories behind all of them.
I had another excellent day yesterday, which involved a new friend and much random fun. We met at Powell’s, then watched a bewildering theater performance at Pioneer Square (we left after about ten minutes, scratching our heads with confusion), watched some buskers outside Nordstrom, bounced around between a bunch of closed restaurants (which finally led us to get sushi at Sansai), then we walked clear up to Vivace for coffee and dessert. Lovely day.
NewFriend is a piano teacher, so we’ve been looking for classical music we’ll be able to play together as a duo. I found a book of ‘easy to intermediate’ cello solos at Powell’s, which consists of classical pieces arranged for cello, with piano accompaniment. Perfect! It’s part of a two-book series; Book One is the piano book, and Book Two is the cello book. I bought the piano one because A) it was the only one they had, B) it had both the piano AND the cello parts on it, and C) I figured we could track down the complementary book at some point, or just photocopy whichever pieces we intend to learn.
When I pulled up at home, CellistSkip was standing next to his car, and he said hello. I brought the book over to show him, and he said, “No way. . .I think I used to have that book when I was a kid.” FlutistSusan came down the steps just then and I showed it to her too. “That sounds familiar,” she said. “I think I may actually have the cello book in my files somewhere.” She ran into her office, rummaged around in a drawer, and after about ten seconds pulled out a tattered copy of the companion cello book. The cover is gone and about half of the pages are missing, but it’s the same book. What a crazy coincidence, no?
So here are a few pictures. I wish I would’ve taken more, but I was too hungry to think of it when we got our sushi. The sushi was excellent, by the way, but the sunomono salad (with octopus, red onions, bell peppers and daikon radishes) was the hit of the day.
Perhaps I could recruit your help in locating a piece for NewFriend and me? We’re looking for Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance #2 in E minor, Opus 72, arranged for piano and cello. You know, it’s this piece (and what a beautiful performance this is!):
I could watch that all day. Thanks in advance for your help!
When I arrived, I got out of my car and noticed that my friend Skip’s car had a piece of plastic where the rear passenger window should have been. I tried to call him to find out what happened, but there was no answer, so I sent him a text asking if anything had been taken. No response, so I signed onto VisageTome to find that practically everyone I knew had posted an update saying something to the effect of, “Skip’s cello STOLEN! It looks like [description]. . .please help!”
It happened this afternoon on Northeast 13th Avenue, sometime between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Here’s Skip’s description of the instrument:
“There’s a coffee stain on the bridge of the instrument. It’s very dusty and has a large area of finger nail scratches on the right side. It’s made by Virgilio Cappelini 1982 in Cremona, Italy and the label inside says so. It has a metal tailpiece (all scratched up) and a Shuback bridge.”
If you have this cello (and if you’re not Skip), IT IS NOT YOURS and you should do the right thing and turn it in to the police. They are looking for it (AND FOR YOU!) and so are hundreds of Skip’s friends. You’d better pray that the police find you before one of us does.
Last night I had the opportunity to witness the Pogues in concert, in their original lineup. Though I’ve seen them on TV a time or two, and IrishBand plays a couple of their songs, I have to confess that I’m not terribly familiar with their music. I’m not stupid enough to pass up an opportunity to see a legendary band, though, especially for free (thanks to IrishBand’s Singer, who gave me a ticket as an early birthday present).
The crowd was surprisingly pushy and rowdy, which I don’t understand, because it’s not as if the Pogues are a rowdy band or anything. IrishBand’s Singer got himself wedged between two people just as a third guy came and head-butted him repeatedly. Found out about that afterwards, since our little group got separated by about the fourth song. I kept getting pushed and squashed between tall people, which made it impossible to see (and hindered my enjoyment of the show), so I made my way to the side by one of the towers of speakers, right near the front.
The band sounded really good, especially since it was only the second night of the tour. There was only one song (which I don’t know the name of, naturally) in which people were playing chords in the wrong order for a while, but they got back on track without much of a hitch.
I found myself thinking throughout the entire show, What must it be like to be in a band with Shane MacGowan? I can’t even begin to speculate about thinking of imagining it. He may be the sweetest guy in the world, but the fact of the matter today is that he’s a shell of a person, ravaged by many decades of drinking and hard living. He doesn’t have a tooth in his head, and we could only understand a handful of words the whole time, one of them being the ubiquitous “fookin’ “. The tin whistle player appeared a bit embarrassed (or maybe exasperated) by him a couple of times. At one point, he yelled jokingly, “This isn’t rock and roll, this is patricide!”
My favorite part of the show actually happened after the show was officially over. The band had just exited the stage, with the exception of Shane, who was standing at the microphone with his wine bottle, basking in the crowd’s adulation and trying to figure out how to get off of the stage. The house lights hadn’t come up yet, but the sound men had just turned on some exit music for us, which happened to be “Good Times, Bad Times” by Leaden Dirigible. Shane stayed at the mic and slurred along with the song, and played an air-guitar solo on his wine bottle. The tin whistle player came back to join him, the microphones were turned back on, and the two guys sang and rocked out to their hearts’ content. After the song ended, they walked off with a wave, the house lights came up, and we knew we had witnessed a special and spontaneous moment.
All I had with which to capture that special and spontaneous moment was the camera in my phone, and here’s what I got. Luckily, it came out surprisingly good, all things considered.
I had a good time at the show, but not a great time. I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to see them, and I’ll certainly give them their due, but I also have to admit that I wasn’t overly impressed. I’ll be the first to admit, however, that I may be missing the boat on this one. I’m going to scrounge up a copy of “Rum, Sodomy & the Lash” and give it a listen, or two, or maybe even three.
And I’m still going to enjoy playing their songs with IrishBand, with a whole new appreciation for them.
In other news, my birthday is rapidly approaching.
